How the Electoral College Disenfranchises Everyone

 

 

I am sick of presidential politics and how they pit Americans against each other. Only fanatics, madmen, and the greedy can applaud how Trump has cheapened the national discourse, the dignity of the presidency, and America’s standing in the global community. Nor was Richard Nixon called “Tricky Dick” for his magician skills.

 

Democrats also have plenty to answer for. It is hypocritical to ignore that Bill Clinton was every bit as amoral as Trump. Remember the parade of women who revealed his sexual peccadillos? Let’s not forget that several said he harassed them. Though we didn’t talk about such things then, Kennedy’s affairs rivaled Clinton’s.

 

At least Kennedy got more votes than Nixon and assorted small parties, but by the squeakiest of margins: 113,000 votes. In 1968, Nixon turned the table and won the presidency with just 43.4% of the vote. Clinton never got 50% + 1 in either of his elections. In 1992, he garnered just 43% of the popular vote and in 1996, just a tick over 49%. (He probably would have lost in 1996, had not the GOP self-destructed with its boneheaded impeachment for lying about his dalliances with Monica Lewinsky.) Move forward to 2000, and George W. Bush became president, though he got 500,000 fewer votes. Trump took office having decisively lost the popular will, so don’t cry for me Argentina if he ends up losing in 2020 by a Kennedyesque margin.

 

Yet because we have the Electoral College, the books are cooked to look better than they were. In 1960, Kennedy’s victorious Electoral ledger was 303-219; in 1968, Nixon prevailed by 301-191 (with 46 for George Wallace). You could be excused for glancing at the Electoral College and concluding that Bill Clinton was the most popular man in America; 1992 goes down as a 370-168 shellacking of George H. W. Bush, and four years later he spanked Bob Dole by 379-159. In 2016, Trump was trounced by 3 million votes but proclaimed a landslide based on a 304-227 Electoral College victory. Only in the disputed election of 2000 did the Electoral College come close to depicting a true split; George W. Bush took office with a mere 271-266 edge over Al Gore.

 

There is irony in all of this. Conservatives like to invoke the original intent of the Constitution. It’s an absurdity on many levels, but let’s stick to the issue at hand. A major selling point for the Electoral College was that it gave Congress an opportunity to undo an election in which an excited populace chose the “wrong” person, specifically (ahem!) a demagogue. Only once has Congress directly intervened in an election, the 1876 Hayes-Tilden bout, which Tilden clearly won but was shunted aside by a dodgy compromise.

 

My point is to emphasize that the Electoral College is a dinosaur awaiting a comet of doom. If Congress didn’t cast off a demagogue in 2016, there is no point whatsoever in maintaining that theoretical power. Make voters the final arbiters. A case could be made for European-style runoffs in no one gets above 50%, but the electorate should always decide. If you think the 2020 election is over, think again; so-called “faithless electors” could overthrow whatever the count or courts say.

 

Here’s why everyone should push for a Constitutional amendment to trash the Electoral College. For the most part, your vote does not matter. If you are a Republican in California, Massachusetts, or New York, you might as well sleep through presidential elections. The same is true if you’re a Democrat in Deep red states like Alabama, Idaho, or Kansas. Is it any wonder that between half and a third of voters sit out presidential elections?

 

We can pretend it’s the candidates, but it’s simpler: Why vote if it doesn’t matter? And if you’re running for POTUS, why on earth would you bother with rural areas, small towns, or thinly populated counties? The best way to fix this mess is to make sure that each vote counts. Trash the Electoral College now.

 

Rob Weir